West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-04-29

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in diminishing wages and lessening
opportunities for obtaining work
There have been many newspapers
started in small towns through the
means of plates. These little towns
will soon be sending out horde OF
half-taught and low-priced compos-
itors, for small country offices but
rarely have employment for journey
men. The larger weeklies and the
daily papers of the third rate cities
also use plate matter, the effect being
to increase the size of the papers
somewhat, but at the same time to
lessen on the whole the amount OF
work for compositors. Another use
for plate matter, and one which is a
menace to the scale of wages, is that
in case of strike it can be relied on
to fill up the forms.
In addition to the changes in the
| New York printing office growing
out of new methods and improved
machinery, the work of the trade
has been split off into many diyis-
ions, and, with few exceptions, each
of these divisions is mOnopollzed BY
a few houses, the monopoly being
established and controlled through
the possession of facilities not at
tainable by beginner. Who would
think to-day of entering into the
business Of manufacturing school
books in the face of the pool sup.
plying the country with them and
employing the usual modes of apool
in crushing opposition? What work
ing printer would dream Of starting
daily newspaper or a monthly
maginize after looking over the list
of failures in these lines during the
past ten years? The savings of q
printers lifetime would be unequal
to the purchase of single press in
daily newspaper office. No com
bination of merit ard genius can
cope with the problem of competing
with the four large theatrical print
ING offices of the city, its three color
printing firms, its half dozen law
printing establishments, or its three
railway printing houses. Once or
twice in decade talent, character
and capital unite and successfully
build up new printing office in New
York. This is usually done, how
ever, through large capitalists seek
inc investments for their money and
competing offices already estab-
lished to yield u share of their pat
ronage and in part release their grip
upon the increasing volume of work
in the way Of printing. Again, some
enterprising persons may perceive
apart from the common line of work
little need for q new office that
may in time grow to he Il great
office. This is in the direction for
the exercise OF business talent that
is much vaunted and tiattering to
self-foresight-and the printers
who have believed that they had
that talent and had discovered q
need are surprising in number. As
a consequence there are eX proprie
tors of printing offices at the case in
every Office in the city. Taking the
waste of capital and the wages that
might have been earned if these eX-
proprietors had never made their
business ventures, the aggregate loss
to the working members of the print
ing fraternity, through unsuccessful
attempts to become employers, will
bear comparison with what has been
thrown away by the ShiftleSs.
Several managers Of printing
offices have lately been interviewed
by the writer in relation to the ques-
ton of building up a paying estab-
lishment, Mr.. Roony, manager of
the Concord Cooperative Company,
pays 5000 q year rept for an estab-
lishment now having about $4,000
worth of material in it, He had
lately sought better quarters in his
neighborhood, but found nothing
! that rented under $1,000 which an
swered his purposes. He had had
his eve. on q new building near by,
while it was in course of cOnstruc-
! ton, and thought he might take in
| it room 25x75 feet. But its rent
turned out to be $4,000 Il year. Mr..
Roony thinks that $4,000 is re-
quired to set up an Office which can
expect to compete in any of the
larger lines of the printing business.
| Mr. McWilliams said that he
thought $5O,OC0 might start a book
printing office. The smaller offices
generally made barely Il living over
their rent. which was sure to rise il
the office depended on its locality
for its good will. He had once gone
to a place that was worthless for any
one else, but as soon as he had made
it pay the rent was run up to a point
that compelled him to remove. Mr.
Burgoyne, whose large business has
been built up in the past fifteen
wears, said there was $4,000 invest
! cd in his Office. An office that could
bid for work OF any class might bt
established for $l50.O00; but in
order to DO all kinds of work aquar
ter of million would be needed
The day of the small printer had
gone by. He had 4 number of eX
proprietors working for him. II,